Hostels, hotels, guesthouse, apartments and even a boat, were just a few of the different places we stayed during our EASTERN EUROPE TRIP.
The idea of accommodation started out simple enough… hostels are cheap lets stay there to save money. But over the time we traveled, we ended up trying all sorts of accommodation for different reasons. Here’s some of the good and bad from the different places.
See not all cheap accommodation is bad (or a hostel)
Hostels
We stayed in a hostel while in Athens… One of the most horrid sleeps I had during the the trip. I work up the next morning covered in mosquito bites. The 4 bed room had no window in so imagine Greece in summer and you’ll catch my drift. It wasn’t sound proof and located next to stairs. And most annoyingly it was a hostel that had no kitchen!! I know the absurdness of it all. It did do a good pancake breakfast though.
While in Mostar, the draw card for the hostel we stayed at was the different tours offered by the owner. Small kitchen but at least we could cook and. By now we knew to take the private room if we had the chance, but sadly in Belgrade it was back to the 6 bed dorm in a city that was known for partying (I however am not). It was however a good stay as we were some of the few guests who had stayed at the hostel, the staff were lovely and even offered us shots of the local alcohol and food to “introduce us the the culture”.
Hotels
The main draw card for a European hotel… Clean and no shared bathroom! We stayed in 3 (and only 3 nights) during our whole trip. After a week at a hostel in Brasov we decided we needed some time to ourselves in Bucharest and having free nights on bookings.com meant we could stay at a hotel and not feel like we were spending loads of money.
Apartments
Prior to this trip I had never used Airbnb or even thought to. That was until I worked out in some places (especially if staying for an extended period) it was cheaper to rent a whole apartment then it was to rent a dorm in a hostel. It means that at times you don’t get the social atmosphere of the hostel but I don’t mind having a bit of me time.
We’ve rented 6 apartments in 5 different countries, Spilt, Bol, Budapest, Belgrade and Tallinn. Out of them I’d recommend 5 to others the other one…well… Let’s just say this was the front door and that is some serious boltage
I’ve found one of the hardest things about using Airbnb is having to try and arrange the initial check in. This is especially true if you don’t have wifi and are relying on a phone to either have credit to text or to receive messages. Or if you are not sure of your arrival time which could leave you sitting for an hour waiting for the host to make it across the city
Boat
Did I forget to mention the time I slept on a train?
The adventures of Jenjaroo 
A true set of contrasts! We’re glad to have you back x